When the previously available farina products are prepared on a stove top, they do make a non-lumpy product having an acceptable texture, i.e. a slightly granular, non-lumpy character. However, when microwave consumer preparation is attempted, the presently available farina products tend to generate extremes of texture--much of the cereal product in the bowl becomes lumpy, and the rest of the bowl content becomes watery. The lumpy portion of the farina mixture is believed to be the result of uneven hydration during microwave preparation. It is clear that some parts of the cereal in the bowl tend to be vastly underhydrated, and other parts tend to be over hydrated.
The only known way to avoid this problem with such products during microwave cooking is to interrupt the cooking cycle part way thru the cooking cycle and stir the product mixture. This is an example of the so-called two step method. In fact, any microwave method which involves an interruption of the microwave cooking cycle, for example, for the purpose of manipulating the cooking vessel or its contents, and resumption of the cooking cycle, is referred to generally, and herein, as a "two step" method.
With the meteoric increase in the use and availability of microwave ovens, the microwave method of consumer preparation of hot cereals has also become increasingly popular. Parents are believed to be increasingly likely to encourage their children to prepare a personal serving bowl of hot oat cereal in the microwave. Hence, it would be desirable to provide improvements in farina processing which would result in a farina cereal product which can be consumer prepared in a one step microwave method which is not particularly sensitive to reproduction of exact conditions. The preferred consumer preparation method would also not involve interruption and resumption of the microwave cooking cycle nor stirring of the cereal/water mixture at some point during the cooking step in order for the consumer to achieve successful preparation of the farina in the microwave.
Microwave foaming and foamover is normally not encountered with farina products, and hence, for this reason also, farina would be an ideal candidate for consumer microwave preparation.
Hence, it would be desirable to provide a farina product which does not encounter the lumping problem when used in the one-step microwave method.
It would also be desirable to provide a method for the manufacture of such a farina, which method does not require the use of steam in order to achieve gelatinization of the product.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a farina product which evenly hydrates in a one step method in a microwave oven, and which can be prepared by the consumer, with complete and uniform rehydration, in such a one-step microwave preparation method.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a farina which is microwavable with no stirring required during cooking, having a texture which, after the microwave cook, is like the longer-cooking, regular farina when cooked.